Mesothelioma Friend & Caregiver Q&A

I would say to anybody that has a family member or a friend that been diagnosed with mesothelioma to just be there for that person and figure out a way that you can help support them support does come in many different forms and different manners. I think that emotional support, first and foremost, is huge, just being there for them just listening to them, just letting them, you know, lean on you to tell you whatever it is they're feeling because they're probably gonna have some really big feelings about what's going on. Support can also be showing up with meals you know, helping with errands, going over and, you know, perhaps offering to clean the house, just sit and have a cup of tea. Kim was to drink tea, just being there for her, just really showing up however you can. Ask them, you know, what can I do to help you? I think one of the things I discovered is that I actually kinda had a catchphrase with So quite often through this whole entire journey from start to finish or to where we are here today, One thing I would do is call her on the phone and say, what do you need from me? Basically, what can I do to help you? Is it making calls? Is it, you know, scheduling something? Whatever it is, I would say that's the best way to support your friend or family member with this diagnosis. I really try to offer her emotional support. As you can imagine, this is just a devastating disease, and it was really a hard diagnosis to hear and to comprehend. I was trying to be a friend that she could call on, somebody that she could talk to about what she was going through. And it didn't matter what it didn't matter if it was, you know, she was struggling with the diagnosis. She was having battles with the insurance company that she was afraid. She was worried about her children. She was worried about their future. Didn't really matter what it was. I just tried to really be there for her to support her to listen to her. One way I felt like I really helped and supported Kim through this process was I would help her focus on direction to decide what it was that she wanted to do where she needed to go. We went through the massive amount of paperwork she had. We organized it all. We put it into files. We labeled everything. So that when she was on this journey, whether it was dealing with the insurance company or later her attorney, anything that she just felt that she was organized, and it wasn't overwhelming to her when people asked her for information or paperwork, test results, whatever it may be. In addition to that, we made huge lists of things to do. Some of those were personal things that she needed to do, some were for her family, for her children, we made lists of calls that needed to be made paperwork that maybe needed to be sent someone I mean, it just went on and on. I helped her make calls. We just tackled just whatever she felt was a priority and most important. And I think doing that with her just really help take some of the stress. She's told me it was a huge help. I sat down with her and helped her devise a list of questions. And we wrote out everything that we could think of that would be important. Everything from, you know, what she would expect through the legal process We ask them about their experience. We ask them about their, procedures, their methods, we asked about the time frame. We asked what she could expect, who all would be involved just a whole bunch of questions, anything and everything we could think of. I would absolutely recommend to anyone, anyone related to someone with mesothelioma or mesothelioma diagnosis that they reach out to asbestos dot com I really believe that the support that Kim has received, that her family has received, is amazing. I think anyone that reaches out to Missy and her organization will definitely benefit in a variety of ways. I really think that everyone has their strengths. They're we misses, the areas they need support in. And I think Missy is a really good resource for determining how she can be the most helpful, whether it's words of wisdom, whether it's sending brochures, educational material directing patients, their families, to specialists. Anyone in feel that can help with the disease and the process and what the family and the patient are gonna through or could possibly go through. It's really invaluable. I absolutely would recommend to anyone involved with someone going through this to reach out.